Nor leave not one behind, that doth not wish Cam. Never was monarch better fear'd, and lov'd, Than is your majesty; there's not, I think, a subject, That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness Under the sweet shade of your government. Grey. Even those, that were your father's enemies, Have steep'd their galls in honey; and do serve you With hearts create of duty and of zeal. K. Hen. We therefore have great cause of thankful ness; And shall forget the office of our hand,1 Scroop. So service shall with steeled sinews toil; K. Hen. We judge no less.-Uncle of Exeter, Scroop. That's mercy, but too much security: Cam. So may your highness, and yet punish too. Grey. Sir, you show great mercy, if you give him life, After the taste of much correction. K. Hen. Alas, your too much love and care of me "If you shall cleave to my consent,” &c. Consent is union, &c. Steevens. ours. 9 in a fair concent-] In friendly concord; in unison with Malone. hearts create-] Hearts compounded or made up of duty and zeal. Johnson. 1 And shall forget the office of our hand,] Perhaps our author, when he wrote this line, had the fifth verse of the 137th Psalm in his thoughts: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let mý right hand forget her cunning." Steevens. 2 — more advice,] On his return to more coolness of mind. Johnson. Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch. Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye,4 Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey,-in their dear care, And tender preservation of our person, Would have him punish'd. And now to our French causes; Who are the late commissioners?5 Cam. I one, my lord; Your highness bade me ask for it to-day. Grey. And me, my royal sovereign. K. Hen. Then, Richard, earl of Cambridge, there is yours; There yours, lord Scroop of Masham;-and, sir knight, 3 - proceeding on distemper,] i. e. sudden passions. Warburton. Perturbation of mind. Temper is equality or calmness of mind, from an equipoise or due mixture of passions. Distemper of mind is the predominance of a passion, as distemper of body is the predominance of a humour. Johnson. It has been just said by the king, that it was excess of wine that set him on, and distemper may therefore mean intoxication. Distemper'd in liquor is still a common expression. Chapman, in his Epicedium on the Death of Prince Henry, 1612, has personified this species of distemper: "Frantick distemper, and hare-ey'd unrest.” And Brabantio says, that Roderigo is "Full of supper and distemp'ring draughts." Again, Holinshed, Vol. III, p. 626: “ gave him wine and strong drink in such excessive sort, that he was therewith distempered, and reel'd as he went." Steevens. 4 how shall we stretch our eye,] If we may not wink at small faults, how wide must we open our eyes at great? Johnson. 5 Who are the late commissioners ?] That is, as appears from the sequel, who are the persons lately appointed commissioners? M. Mason. So much complexion?-look ye, how they change! Cam. I do confess my fault; And do submit me to your highness' mercy. K. Hen. The mercy that was quick in us but late, Thou, that didst bear the key of all my counsels, Could out of thee extract one spark of evil, 6 quick-] That is, living. Johnson. 7 To furnish him-] The latter word, which is wanting in the first folio, was supplied by the editor of the second. Malone. 8 though the truth of it stands off as gross As black from white,] Though the truth be as apparent and visible as black and white contiguous to each other. To stand off is être relevè, to be prominent to the eye, as the strong parts of a picture. Johnson. As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose, With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch'd But he, that temper'd thee,1 bade thee stand up, If that same dæmon, that hath gull'd thee thus, The sweetness of affiance!3 Show men dutiful? 9 — so grossly -] Palpably; with a plain and visible connection of cause and effect. Johnson. 1 he, that temper'd thee,] Though temper'd may stand for formed or moulded, yet I fancy tempted was the author's word, for it answers better to suggest in the opposition. Johnson. Temper'd, I believe, is the true reading, and means-rendered thee pliable to his will. Falstaff says of Shallow, that he has him tempering between his thumb and finger." Steevens. 2 vasty Tartar-] i. e. Tartarus, the fabled place of future punishment. So, in Heywood's Brazen Age, 1613: "With aconitum that in Tartar springs." Steevens. Again, in The Troublesome Raigne of King John, 1561: "And let the black tormentors of black Tartary, "Upbraide them with this damned enterprize." Malone. 30, how hast thou with jealousy infected The sweetness of affiance!] Shakspeare uses this aggravation of the guilt of treachery with great judgment. One of the worst consequences of breach of trust is the diminution of that confidence which makes the happiness of life, and the dissemination of suspicion, which is the poison of society. Johnson. Why, so didst thou: Come they of noble family? Why, so didst thou: Or are they spare in diet; To mark the full-fraught man, and best indued," ▲ Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement;] Complement has, in this instance, the same sense as in Love's Labour's Lost, Act I. Complements, in the age of Shakspeare, meant the same as accomplishments in the present one. Steevens. See Vol. IV, p. 14, n. 3. By the epithet modest the king means that Scroop's accomplishments were not ostentatiously displayed. Malone. 5 Not working with the eye, without the ear,] The king means to say of Scroop, that he was a cautious man, who knew that fronti nulla fides, that a specious appearance was deceitful, and therefore did not work with the eye, without the ear, did not trust the air or look of any man till he had tried him by enquiry and conversation. Johnson. 6 and so finely bolted,] i. e. refined or purged from all faults. Pope. Bolted is the same with sifted, and has consequently the meaning of refined. Johnson. 7 To mark the full-fraught man, and best indued, &c.] Best indued is a phrase equivalent to-gifted or endowed in the most extraordinary manner. So, Chapman : "His pow'rs with dreadful strength indu'd." Steevens. The folio, where alone this line is found, reads: To make the full-fraught man, &c. The emendation was made by Mr. Theobald. Mr. Pope endea voured to obtain some sense by pointing thus: To make the full-fraught man and best, indu'd With some suspicion. But "to make a person indued with suspicion," does not appear, to my ear at least, like the phraseology of Shakspeare's or any other age. Make or mock are so often confounded in these plays, that I once suspected that the latter word might have been used here: but this also would be very harsh. The old copy has thee instead of the. The correction was made by Mr. Pope. Our author has the same thought again in Cymbeline: Malone. |